Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Just picked up a new Honda 1132 TAS and I am having a problem with the carb/engine. It seems as though there is only a slight defference between the slow throttle setting and the fast setting. I took the carb cover off and the throttle linkage is moving fine although it will not stay in the upper most fast setting unless I hold it there with the throttle lever so I adjusted(tightened) the locknut on the throttle lever and that seemed to help alot to hold it at fast idle BUT the locknut will keep loosening up as you use the throttle from slow to fast...Also the fast idle surges up and down and as I mentioned the slow and fast difference is not that great, example: As I move the throttle lever slowly from slow to fast there is no noticeable difference(no variable speed of the engine) until I get to fast and even that seems just a bit more than slow, I think possibly the slow idle setting is set too high..This is too bad especially on a new HONDA 3000.00 machine. Anyone have any thoughts?.. I also should mention that I still own my HS828 tracked Honda and the throttle control on that works like a charm from really low to high and anywhere in between.

if you purchased this new ,  take it back or to a certified honda dealer. once you mess with it the warranty is NO GOOD.  i have had to do this in my shop,  nothing worse than the backyard guy that thinks with a book he can fix anything. i had a new unit come in and he had carb parts in a plastic bag.   he was miffed that he got charged... i voided his warranty.  tough lesson ..... 

The RPM of the Honda, as well as all other power equipment engines, is controlled by a governor. The governor is designed to maintain the optimal engine speed regardless of load. That speed is about 3000 to 3600 RPM depending on engine. Honda engines are notoriously well made and quiet, so your seat of the pants impression that it’s running too slow is suspect. The fact that there’s minimal change from slow to fast does not necessarily mean there’s something wrong. Many of the Briggs & Stratton Snow series engines don’t even have a throttle control, and as soon as you start them they rev up to their full RPM. As load is applied to the engine the governor opens the throttle to maintain the RPM and the exhaust note gets loader. Being able to manually control engine speed has little value on snow machines, so the Honda throttle is likely working the way it was designed to work.

I recommend you leave the throttle linkage alone and see how it works in the snow. If there’s a real problem throwing snow then take the machine back to where you got it or take it to a Honda dealer for service. If you modify or damage the throttle linkage you risk voiding your warrantee and Honda’s are not cheap to fix.

I would take it back to the dealer and have them take care of the issue.  No need to mess around with a brand new machine on your own.  That's what the warranty is for.

If the machine is working (moving snow) as intended and there is no loss of performance, is there really an issue?  You have another machine to compare it to.  Does the new machine stack up?   Before you start getting into potential warranty problems, buy an electronic tachometer to see if the engine is running at full throttle which is usually 3600 rpm.  If it is that's good.  Not too sure what the low speed rpm would be on the Honda engine but my 9.5 B&S Snow Max will not run at less than 1600 rpm.  Usually, it begins to stall at around 1650.  So, don't expect a small single cylinder engine to putt along at 800 rpm. 

mech12 wrote:

What would you do if a customer bought a new machine,  the carb malfunctions, he's a hundred miles from a service depot, is told he'll have to wait three weeks for the machine to get repaired and tries to fix it himself?

In addition to the above, if the customer's carb was defective and he took it apart, brought it to you in pieces in a bag, wouldn't that reduce your time to dis-assemble it?  Also, wouldn't your time to re-assemble the carb be charged out to the manufacturer as part of the warranty program?   Seems to me that voiding a warranty just because someone took something apart isn't right.  If parts are broken or missing due to ham fisted or careless action, sure, void the warranty.  If a guy is stuck  between a rock and a hard place and tries to repair it, is unsuccessful and brings the machine and all related  malfunctioning parts in for service, why void his warranty?  If you don't have to put extra time in to make the fix, the warranty will cover your cost.  Will it not?   

If I was the "guy" a hundered miles out...  I would call them to pick It up and tell then the situation,   Than get them to agree for me to take it apartdue to the situation...

Friiy

Also.... I agree the throttle setting has no bearing on what you think it is suppose to do... Check your owners manual and see if it is doing what the MANUAL says it is suppose to do... Make sure you have a real problem...

I don't understand this whole thread.  It's a Honda...they NEVER break!!!

Paul7 wrote:

There has not been a determination that anything broke, just the described symptoms have been presented and probable failures and diagnostic methods were suggested.

It is possible any snowblower will break, regardless of the brand.  Hondas are not immune to failures, regardless of any expectations.

I was being sarcastic.  Sorry about that.

GOT IT FIXED..I found the 6MM locknut that holds the plastic throttle lever on the control panel was total junk allowing the throttle linkage to barely move at the carb and everytime I would tighten it it would loosen up (unscrew) with only three movements of  the throttle lever. I replaced the 6MM locknut with a 6MM nylok locknut nut and bingo it stays in full throttle now and anywhere in between it was slipping badly with the original broken locknut. Full throttle does still surge or hunt a little bit though so I will be contacting the dealer  for that but it is very minor and I'm not sure if it will do that under a load (I will find out today another 8" of snow) my guess is probably not. Anyway I will be letting the dealer know about the locknut issue and possibly Honda I'm not sure how Honda or the dealer did not catch that seeing that the throttle control did absolutely nothing when I first fired it up. Now I'm ready to see how the 1132 compares to my 12 year old HS828TS.